Author: watching...

I’ve been aware of the problem plastic presents since watching Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2. I no longer use plastic wipes to clean (Until recently I had no idea they had plastic in them). I have replaced hand wash with soap. I use a bar of soap shampoo from Lush on my hair. I try and buy less plastic toys (avoiding McDonalds Happy Meals for my kids with the cheap plastic toy). We never really used straws before, but now I definately don’t. We have reusable water bottles and take them with us when we go out instead of buying a plastic bottle of water. I don’t use liquid washing tablets but instead powder in my washing machine. I haven’t yet started using non plastic dental floss, or bamboo toothbrushes, reusable wipes to clean my babies bottom or reusable nappies. However, after watching this program I may also look into making these changes. The problem is… no matter what I do unless everyone wakes up and sees the extent of this plastic problem (and it is literally EVERYWHERE) what I do will hardly make a difference.

This is a must see for everyone on this planet. Governments and corporations need to take action with urgency. Innovators need to come up with solutions. If we don’t take action then there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

This harrowing documentary is thankfully highlighting this problem and I hope many see it and decide to take action.

I enjoyed watching Bodyguard but I don’t know if it deserves all the hype. There were some elements of it that were brilliant entertainment and others that were a bit ludicrous. Also it sometimes took different directions between pure drama and then the steamy bit’s where the Home Secretary is unzipping her trousers, really weird if you imagine our current politicians.

The first episode was one of the brilliant ones. I help my breath for about 20 minutes. The last episode was also nerve wracking as it was a similar suicide vest scenario but this did verge on the ludicrious part of the scale. If someone had a suicide vest on then I doubt the police would antagonise them further. David Budd (played by Richard Madden) then walked through London for miles with the suicide vest on to go to his flat. After watching this I saw some a picture where the actor was enjoying a pint along the way and then another where he was doing a catwalk in his ‘suicide vest with a waterproof cape’. Very funny indeed.

I mostly watched this to see Keeley Hawes. I met her last summer briefly. When I say ‘met’ I mean I was there in the ladies when she came out of the cubicle and I said “hello” as she went to wash her hands. She replied with a brief “hello” but clearly didnt fancy a chat after doing her business.

Overall Bodyguard rated high on the entertainment scale. Despite the plot holes there was some really good drama and twist and turns you didn’t expect. Many thought Keeley Hawes’s character wasn’t really dead and there were times the story kept the audience guessing. Richard Madden did a good job playing the hero and I will look forward to a second series.

My husband told me what this was about a couple of weeks before it was released and I said “but there is a film about that”, and yes, it turns out this is the exact same story of the film “All The Money In The World”. The film version was mostly known as the one they had to reshoot as accusations against Kevin Spacey following the #metoo movement were all coming out. I haven’t seen the film but I prefer the idea of Christopher Plummer playing the role as opposed to Kevin Spacey in prosphetics. Donald Sutherland was great in this.

I really enjoyed bingeing on this series. I think a series does this story better than a film would. There was a huge star cast with Hilary Swank playing the boys mother and it was great seeing Brendan Fraser in a role now that he has aged and is unable to play the ‘handsome hero’, he is a great actor, I hope we see more of him.

The story of the kidnapping of the grandson of the worlds richest man and how he wouldn’t pay the ransom is a really interesting story and the fact it is a true story made this so compelling. I had to fight the urge not to google anything until I had finished watching it, but, like when watching Narcos, you find a lot of the outrageous things are usually the true bits. I found it very sad also seeing what happened to these people after the events of the series and where they ended up.

Everyone is raving about Killing Eve, and rightly so. I binged on it in two nights while my husband was away. I liked it so much I am watching it again but with him this time. I didn’t even mind that the series doesn’t really conclude but seems to lead you straight into another series, which is great because it is so good you want more.

Killing Eve is dark but funny. Both the hero and villan (or Villanelle as she is called) are women, so it has a lovely feminist feel. Jodie Comer is absolutely brilliant (for me she was last seen on the BBC as ‘the other woman’ in Doctor Foster and in the series Thirteen). She gives such a good performance I am sure Hollywood will come knocking. It has exotic locations, spy’s, conspiracys, a variety of assassination techniques and for some reason it felt a bit like a feminist Bond type thing. The cat and mouse element is like a grown up Tom and Jerry cartoon. I loved it.

I cannot recommend this highly enough and I can’t wait for series two. I might even watch Fleabag now… as apparently Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge (now, there is a posh name) is behind the funny wit I enjoyed so much.

For some insane reason I decided to start watching BBC 1 drama The Cry even though I knew it probably wasn’t something I would enjoy. I didn’t enjoy it. It was just episode 1 of the series and I hated how you sensed something awful was looming. I hate anything that involves children or babies being harmed or hurt as I have children myself. Obviously anything that makes you imagine any harm coming to your own child is unbearable to watch.

I also found the format quite annoying. It skipped between the future and past giving you snippets of what was to come and what had happened which I just found a bit confusing. I like Jenna Coleman as an actress but she looked a bit too perfect as a new Mum and not as ‘frazzled’ as she should do (or at least as I did). Looking back now at when I had my first child I think I was in shock about the whole thing for months. As he was premature I had no preparation for childbirth and I felt so awful afterwards I recall the five days in hospital I didn’t even clean my teeth (and I am the type of person who can’t go to sleep unless I have completely removed my make up and flossed). Like the character, I too didn’t get hardly any sleep (I remember celebrating when I got four consequtive hours, it was a landmark). My son then had an operation at eight weeks old and so that seemed to prolong the exhaustion and sleepless nights. I never suffered any post natal depression, thank goodness, but the whole thing was pretty awful. Would I have gotten onto a plane with a 9 week old baby to Australia? Never. I was offered a free trip to the Seychelles a year ago but would have to take my daughter with me who would have been about 8 months. I turned the trip down because a flight with a baby and a lay over in Addis Ababa sounded like too much of an ordeal.

One thing about The Cry is that even though I didn’t enjoy it, I wanted to know what happens. I found myself googling the book and looking for spoilers just so I could find out what happens. From what I found… it doesn’t end well. I can see how people found the book such a page turner. It seems it will focus on how the media portray Jenna Coleman’s character Joanna. Any child abduction cases are always big discussions on social media (like Madeline McCann’s) and how behind the headlines and internet trolls here are real people living in the trauma of such events. I think this is quite interesting, but as a Mum I just can’t stomach such a drama.

I watched this a while ago on the BBC iplayer. Apparently so did a record amount of other people. The BBC Wales drama which first aired on S4C had such an unexpected following from many outside of Wales that they decided to extend the availability on BBC iplayer and now it is being shown on BBC 1.

The drama is unique because it was filmed in both Welsh and English. It stars Eve Myles from Torchwood and Broadchurch as Faith Howells. Faith is a solicitor on maternity leave whom seems to have a normal life with her family in Wales. Her husband and Faith are both solicitors running a family practice and her life is turned upside down when her husband disappears. Faith is forced to return to work to cover for him and uncover the truth about his disappearance, of which suspicion also falls on her.

I first started watching this out of curiosity and it sucked me in. I was origionally just looking out for areas in Wales I recognised (of which I saw many) but I found the main character incredibly likable, compelling and watchable. Eve Myles is a great actress. Apparently prior to doing this role she was tempted to give up acting altogether and thought about becoming a midwife! I’m glad she has continued with acting and this is a great role for her, although she admits that prior to doing this part she didn’t speak a word of Welsh! The actor playing her missing husband is also her husband is real life.

The mystery surrounding her husbands disappearance is really well done. In the many episodes lots happens and a lot of it unexpected. You see it all from Faith’s perpective so you are just in the dark as she is. This Welsh drama can compete with the many Scandi detective dramas out there. What is refreshing is that there isn’t any gruesome murders or missing children just a missing adult, so nothing is too uncomfortable with this mystery.

So many Mum’s just like me enjoyed this drama so much that they were even threads about it on Mumsnet… many wondering where they can pick up a yellow mac like the one that Faith rocks. I’ve seen many yellow mac’s in the shops since. I might pick one up myself!

A great drama. Glad to see a Welsh drama on BBC 1. I hope they do a second series and make more Welsh TV in both Welsh and English.

When something reflects a place and a feeling that is familiar you can’t help but be sucked in. That is how I felt about This Country, a BBC mockumentary that recently picked up three RTS Programme Awards (for best scripted comedy, best comedy writer and best comedy performance). I’ll admit the first episode is possibly my least favourite, where the village has a scarecrow competition, but this series is a grower and I became to love it.

The comedy’s main characters are Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe, two cousins that are bored unemployed 20-somethings in a tiny Cotswold village. Kerry is a different kind of character for TV. Completely asexual, her character reminded me slightly of Kathy Burke. She is always wearing a Swindon Town football shirt, or as her cousin Kurtan describes her wardrobe: “an explosion in an unofficial merchandise factory” (as he points out her shirt has four lions on it, instead of three). Kerry is played by Daisy May Cooper and Kurtan is in real life her twin brother. Daisy May studied drama at RADA, but hated it. She and her brother dreamt up the idea of the series while she was studying in London reminiscing about people they knew from home, which turns out, is Cirencester. Her brother wasn’t initially going to play Kurtan who in real life was working as a model after quitting university, but no one else could do the accent.

The village is full of these ‘characters’ they recall from home. One episode they walk around the village celebrating that “Mr Perkins is dead!”, it turns out Mr Perkins is the name of an actual teacher they hated in school, and they didn’t bother changing the name. Suffice to say their old school are not impressed despite the shows success. Kerry’s mother is never seen in the comedy, you just hear her shouting (voiced by Daisy May, who has a sore throat for ages afterwards). Kerry’s father (aka the local ‘peeper’) and Kerry have a unrequited relationship. Kerry’s father is played by Daisy May and Charlie Cooper’s (Kurtan) real life Dad, and their Uncle also features as a local character.

The setting of this comedy is not far from where I live… which is why I say it reflects a place and feeling that is familiar… but it could in fact be reflecting any British village in the country. It is full of the idiosyncracies you get living in a small village. It is gentle yet rich in humour. Some moments that stand out to me are Kurtan celebrating when he finds out he got a place at Swindon College to study Health and Social Care. The tent moment in one episode (I don’t want to spoil it… it is that funny). There are many genius moments of hilarity I can’t recommend this enough.